"I have spoken with god, and he has abandoned us"

[jrgp]

Read this:


Does the situation described seem plausible? If you are shut off from *all* senses, will you gain supernatural insight? Are there moral issues with surgically doing this to someone, even if they're willing?

[homerofgods]

Are there moral issues, yes. I don't believe he knew what he was in for.
Will you gain supernatural insight? No, there is no supernatural, only a natural reaction. This is not on the other hand a natural reaction, but more like the manuscript for a creapy movie. Fiction, not real, made up by humans.

To shut down all senses would be hard, but I guess doeable in theory. I think you would suffer and go insane at last, unless you die of some internal bleeding or brain disfunktion.

[Shard]

Where did you get this from? How reliable is it? Could be since he knew what the test was for some kind of subconcious action made him say those things about God and hearing dead people. The naming names of dead people sounds a bit fishy though.

[jrgp]

Where did you get this from? How reliable is it? Could be since he knew what the test was for some kind of subconcious action made him say those things about God and hearing dead people. The naming names of dead people sounds a bit fishy though.

It's from Deepweb/Onionland (Don't ask; I won't explain). It's probably unreliable horseshit, but made for interesting reading.

I'd say the scary/fishy part is him mentioning dead people and things they told him, and then looking the scientist in the eye despite being blind.

[Rhombus]

My money's on this being absolute nonsense. The theory itself, wherein we might be able to commune with a deity by dulling all senses is quite intriguing, but he threw himself against the wall? Even if it was possible to move limbs after they're cut off from the brain, he would have no idea whatsoever he was running into a wall. Biting off bits of his arm? How would he even know where his arm was to begin with?

[iDante]

100% BS. Doesn't really deserve discussion actually.

[echo_trail]

I find it hard to believe that any of this is true.

[Blacksheepboy]

Cool read
Theory maybe probable

[snip; I always delete my comments ; np with quote below btw]

I dunno, whatever

[jrgp]

Theory pretty probable. I've been close to death multiple times, and weird stuff can happen, like 'light coming from above your mind' as if you 'feel you're going to be taken to heaven,' to my blood almost 'boiling' and 'being cast into hell', losing functionality of my senses, my body feeling more ethereal, along with religious artifacts 'burning' me. It's been pretty insane.

But for the story? I dunno. My things have been odd at worst. If you think about 'em too much, yeah they seem nuts, ethereal, er whatever. But maybe the story's probable. If I lost all senses.. hell, that'd be hell.

I took a psych class some years back and the teacher said that when you lose all senses your mind always begins to hallucinate.

If I may ask, what were your near death experiences? Anything badass?

[deguix]

"Does the situation described seem plausible?" I think so, anyone would go mad if something like this was done.

"If you are shut off from *all* senses, will you gain supernatural insight?" No. But if anyone would go mad when this is done, that means that everyone has some kind of insight, but very weak, which is strengthened when this happens. When it's too strong, I think the person thinks he's already dead.

"Are there moral issues with surgically doing this to someone, even if they're willing?" Yes, seems that he didn't expect to hear so many undead like that, and still be living. I think that the God abandoned him because he gave up on living without finishing his life.

I think a better experiment would be a person only having 1 sense left, which is hindered in a way so it comes back after a week or so... it would pretty much be like a "near-death" experience right there.

[Smegma]

How could you move if you can't fucking feel?

[Mangled*]

Read this:
Does the situation described seem plausible? If you are shut off from *all* senses, will you gain supernatural insight? Are there moral issues with surgically doing this to someone, even if they're willing?

The situation isn't very plausible because of how long it would take to individually sever every nerve and ensure there was no stimuli. It's possible but I'm fairly sure they would not have been technologically capable of it in 1983.

Shut off from all senses (do we include the ability to percieve your own thoughts?) you would basically be left in a dream-like state where it is possible to be lucid but the lack of stimuli would likely drive your imagination to take over. If this happened, which it didn't, the man would have gone into this experiment with expectations and those expectations would have fed his imagination, as this progressed it would become a more and more tangible delusion for him. Perhaps if he was told before the experiment that he was going to be integrated into a motor vehicle with a consciousness, he would probably have delusions about that.

The Nazis would probably have done this if they were able. However there are no 'moral' issues if the end justifies the means and everybody involved is happy with it.

Either way, this is arse and is as believable as any religious scripture.

[VijchtiDoodah]

Hallucination is a typical side-effect of sensory deprivation, even when the experiment is voluntary. The same is true of solitary confinement. Without stimulation, the brain drifts into its own delusions. Without human contact, emotional instability and mental degradation often result.

So the story is entirely plausible.

That being said, no institutional review board would ever approve this type of study. It is ethically questionable and scientifically unsound. Furthermore, it isn't even possible to sever all sensory input. That would require a kind of invasiveness that hasn't been invented yet. There are sensory neurons in every centimeter of your body: every inch of skin, every blood vessel, every ligament on every skeletal muscle. It simply isn't possible unless you choose to severely damage the brain, but then you've compromised your study by introducing a significant confounding factor.

Regarding supernatural insight from sensory deprivation: what makes you think this might be a plausible theory? The very definition of the supernatural is that it is unexplainable and unpredictable. There is no reason to think that sensory deprivation might provide a window to a possible supernatural world any more than would licking a kitten's ass for two hours on alternating Wednesdays or listening to Latin promulgations before eating Jesus crackers on Sunday morning. The story mentions "scientists", but they are clearly anything but. Might as well stop at deeply pious, and perhaps therein lies their problem -- not that religion is the problem, but that allowing religion to come before reason is (just ask the Catholic Church: their scientists have practiced astoundingly good science for hundreds of years, minus a few cock-ups).

[jrgp]

Hallucination is a typical side-effect of sensory deprivation, even when the experiment is voluntary. The same is true of solitary confinement. Without stimulation, the brain drifts into its own delusions. Without human contact, emotional instability and mental degradation often result.

So the story is entirely plausible.

That being said, no institutional review board would ever approve this type of study. It is ethically questionable and scientifically unsound. Furthermore, it isn't even possible to sever all sensory input. That would require a kind of invasiveness that hasn't been invented yet. There are sensory neurons in every centimeter of your body: every inch of skin, every blood vessel, every ligament on every skeletal muscle. It simply isn't possible unless you choose to severely damage the brain, but then you've compromised your study by introducing a significant confounding factor.

Regarding supernatural insight from sensory deprivation: what makes you think this might be a plausible theory? The very definition of the supernatural is that it is unexplainable and unpredictable. There is no reason to think that sensory deprivation might provide a window to a possible supernatural world any more than would licking a kitten's ass for two hours on alternating Wednesdays or listening to Latin promulgations before eating Jesus crackers on Sunday morning. The story mentions "scientists", but they are clearly anything but. Might as well stop at deeply pious, and perhaps therein lies their problem -- not that religion is the problem, but that allowing religion to come before reason is (just ask the Catholic Church: their scientists have practiced astoundingly good science for hundreds of years, minus a few cock-ups).

You cannot believe how happy I am you replied to this thread! When I read this story, the first thing I thought was "what would VijchtiDoodah " think about it? I'm sure he'd have some really deep thoughts and then make me laugh my ass off at his trailing paragraphs. That catholic church shit was fucking dank bro

You didn't disappoint, good sir.